Development of biologically inspired experimental processes for the synthesis of nanoparticles is an important branch of nanotechnology. The synthesis of gold nanoparticles using Cinnamomum zeylanicum leaf broth as the reducing agent is reported. The morphology of the particles formed consists of a mixture of gold nanoprisms and spheres with fcc (111) structure of gold. At lower concentrations of the extract, formation of prism shaped Au particles dominates, while at higher concentrations almost spherical particles alone are observed. Good crystallinity of the nanoparticles with fcc phase is evident from XRD patterns, clear lattice fringes in the high resolution TEM image and bright circular rings in the SAED pattern. Au nanoparticles grown are observed to be photoluminescent and the intensity of photoemission is found to increase with increase in leaf broth concentration. The ability to modulate the shape of nanoparticles as observed in this study for gold nanoparticles opens up the exciting possibility of developing further synthetic routes employing ecofriendly sources.